I honestly don't know when I've read such a great psychological thriller with a totally deranged and screwed up family. I've just read 2 thrillers by Shari Lapena back-to-back and I cannot get enough of her books! I like her books because she doesn't dwell on details. She dives into the story and keeps the reader turning pages until the very end.

The author has created a totally dysfunctional family with all despicable members. The wealthy parents are murdered with all the characters having motives to see them dead including their former nanny as well as the father’s sister. Everyone has a story and the possibilities keep changing as the narrative continues. All involved stand to inherit a fortune.as they begin to suspect one another. The storyline may not be enjoyable but the author writes in such a way that you keeps you engaged as you try to decipher which one is responsible for these heinous acts. Well done! #NotAHappyFamily #ShariLapena #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

Wealthy parents Fred and Sheila Merton are discovered murdered in their home after a family Easter dinner. Which one of their despicable children or sister did it?

Did not enjoy the book. Almost every character is awful.

Hmmm I smell delicious, mind bending concept here: Knives out meets Succession!

Welcome to the Merton Family mention located at Brecken Hill in upstate New York. Dear Fred and Sheila Merton have no idea this will be their last family dinner party with their lovely kids who hate the guts of them. That was an ordinary Easter dinner till their lovely father started talking about how much he got disappointed of his children and they suddenly left the dinner in anger including their more than 2 decades caretaker Irena who stood up for kids.

Very Dysfunctional family: an oligarch, powerful father figure takes pleasure in tormenting his own kids to boost his own ego! Three kids who turned against each other, feeding with rivalry, anger, frustration. And finally one of them decided to take matters into his or her own hands: brutally killing parents before their father pull his last trick up his sleeve by changing his will and leaving half of his wealth to his sister a.k.a. their vindictive cutthroat bitch auntie dearest!

Yes! Unfortunately knives are not out! Because the poor caretaker Irena already washed away the murder weapon, cleaning the traces of blood and fingertips of the murderer. She has good intentions. She literally raised those kids and she truly knows how they suffered from controlling monster a.k.a real psychopath father of the year with a big ugly secret.

Yeah, their father was big bad wolf and their mother were mostly silent to his terrible actions against his children. She didn’t do anything to protect them and now that’s how she got paid for herself: being strangled to death!

Three traumatized children: one of them or all may have inherited the genes of their father, suffering from same psychopathic tendencies to commit such a brutal crime!

Poor Dan, is the mentally and emotionally weakest link of the trio. He reminds me of Successions’ Kendall a lot. His father targeted him from the beginning, abusing mentally and psychically, selling the company he’d worked hard for and left him penniless and unemployed. And his last unfortunate business investment left him high and dry. The father of the year rejects to borrow him money, humiliating him in front of everyone, pleasing to watch him squirming in pain. Being middle child and only boy must be toughest. He’s none of his parents’ favorite, left excluded and has every right to reflect years long boiled anger in different ways. Could he be the killer? Why not?

Catherine is the oldest, hard working, conservative, conventional, a doctor. She’s in good terms with everyone, her mother’s favorite child. But as soon as her father plans to sell their childhood house, her peaceful demeanor is changed. Could she lie without blushing or showing any reaction to put her on radar? Absolutely not! She’s so cool as cucumber. So calculated. So focused. Could she be sociopath? Why not?

And artsy, unconventional, rebellious, confident, attention seeker, youngest child Jenna is already blacklisted with her special sculptures about women genitalia. Her father plans to cut his financial support and he already expressed his intention in front of entire family.
Could she do something violent? Well, she has an uncontrollable temper issue, doesn’t she?

Both of the children are lying about their alibis. Both of them can return back to house at the time of murders and both of them have motives!

And their vindictive, extremely irritating auntie Audrey knows their secret, already pissed off to be excluded from half share of the wealth, smelling blood, coming after them. She thinks one of them killed her brother. Is she right?

But are those kids only the ones to inherit the will, or are there other people who could be suspect of this killings?

Whodunnit? Can you guess? Which one of them is psychopath? What if the answer is all of them!

I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4!

It was fast paced, riveting, intriguing page turner with great whodunnit premise introducing us so many irritating characters! Even the police officers were annoying. Only likable character was Irena! Audrey was quiet punchable one was more disturbing than the kids!

I highly recommend for the author’s great fans like me and action packed, exciting thriller readers!

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking/ Pamela Dorman Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Three children, their significant others and their old nanny/ maid have dinner with their very wealthy parents Easter Sunday. As usual their father is an absolute nasty bully and they all leave before dinner is finished. That night someone brutally murders both their parents and the children become the main suspects as they’re going to inherit the bulk of the fortune, along with a few others. This is truly a dysfunctional family without a redeeming quality among them and you realize anyone of them could be the killer. The author did a great job of keeping the suspicion nicely going from character to character.
It was funny to me however because if I were given the book without knowing who the author was, I would swear I was reading a Mary Higgins Clark story. The style of writing along with hopping from character to character with short paragraphs reminded me of her books. That’s neither good or bad, just an observation.
A short wonderful beach read, this is perfect for July reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! I have only heard great things about Shari Lapena from my co-workers. I read The Couple Next Door and thoroughly enjoyed the suspense, so I knew I would probably enjoy this one too. The back and forth in this book made it all the more exciting. This family loves lying! I think the title should have been The Family Built on Lies! I found myself trying to say up at night to read more. I have recommended this book to others just the day after finishing it! I am going back to read more books by Shari and I cannot wait for her next one! Thank you again to NetGalley.

I really enjoy how Shari Lapena writes her books where we get the pov’s of everyone involved. This was the most dysfunctional family I believe I have ever read. I was shocked and surprised by the actions of everyone in the Merton’s family. Everything about this family was motivated by greed and deceit. The level of betrayal enacted on the parents and the siblings will absolutely stun your mind.

Dan was weird, creepy and unhinged throughout the entire book. His parts were hard to read because he is just that crazy. If I was Lisa, I would have left him a long time ago. When you know, you know! Catherine was not too bad. She had her demons as well, but she at least had some good sense. You must watch her though. Behind that put together persona was a someone who had some questionable actions. Jenna was the one that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. Seemingly always in the background, agreeable to cast the blame toward others so as to not have the focus on her. You know, she isn’t quite right either. I was very agreeable with Catherine’s husband on how this family is completely messed up!

It was easy enough to have an idea of who done it. The ride to the truth was enjoyable. You will think to yourself how in the world could someone be this cruel. It was inevitable considering the circumstances. These kids did not have a good relationship with their parents. Based upon the epilogue, we know who will get the last laugh!

Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchanged for an honest review.

There are some authors that as soon as you see they have a new book out, you pounce on it. Shari Lapena is one of those authors for me. As soon as I was approved to preview this book I set the book I was reading down and read this book straight through. If you’ve read any of the authors other books then you know that just when you think you have it figured out well you don’t. There is always a twist or turn at the end that you never saw coming. If you’ve read this author before than you know to get this book quickly, if you haven’t read her books before then what are you waiting for? Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and give an opinion on this book

A great mystery! This is a very readable mystery about the murder of a wealthy couple, with greedy, troubled children. The author injects red herrings, pulling the reader into solving the mystery. Lapena does a great job of building suspense and taking the reader through endless lies and suspects.

I really enjoyed this as well as the totally unexpected ending. I had an usual sense of closure and wished for a second epilogue....that’s how fascinating this book is!

Thank you Netgalley for an excellent opportunity to read and enjoy this riveting family drama.